Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

The jurors—lucky sods—got a day off today while Black’s lawyers appealed (unsuccessfully) to Judge Amy St. Eve to return David Radler to the stand. Meanwhile, outside Room 1241, the Globe reports this morning that Sotheby’s is firing back aggressively in its litigation with his Lordship over the commission owing on the sale of his much discussed New York digs. Black, you’ll recall, claims Sotheby’s entered into a conspiracy with the buyers to alert the government to the closing. The money was thereby seized, which, from Black’s point of view, nullified the deal. Sotheby’s vehemently denies any such skulduggery, suggesting that Black’s beef is with the U.S., and in the meantime where’s our $557,000? It’s always dangerous to read too much into this stuff, but the timing of the motion to dismiss Black’s complaint suggests piling on, a signal perhaps that Sotheby’s is sensing Black’s possible demise and thinking best get while the getting is good. Or, like a lot of things surrounding this trial, not.